*Chapter 42:
ALESSIA
The tunnels swallowed sound the moment we dropped below the sealed wall, and the air down here tasted of wet stone and iron and something older that made the mark on my wrist pull tight like it recognized the place even if I didn’t. Fresh tracks cut through the dust on the floor, deep enough that whoever made them was moving fast and wasn’t trying to hide it, and the glow from the anchor hadn’t faded—it was pulling us forward like a tether of its own.
Azriel led with his hand close to his blade but not drawing it, because down here a blade wouldn’t matter if Veyl was riding the person ahead of us. Blackwell kept his eyes on the walls, reading the old marks the way he read the journal, and Asher and Axel moved silent on either side of me, their bond to me a low bu
